For me, if you compare gameplay, tone, aesthetic and the sheer visceral joy of controlling the player character, MGR is better.
MGR had a unique playstyle that innovated within the genre. It respected the legacy of its parent series while it diled the crazy up to eleven - an appropriate choice given the tone of other Japanese action games. It gave us a cast of memorable characters and quotable dialogue. I particularly love how the opening level sets up your dynamic with Jetstream Sam - and forces you to suffer a helpless defeat. Bosses are varied and engaging. Some of the scenarios are insane - flying up the side of a building on a drone, fighting building sized bipedal robots dueling a cyborg samurai desperado in the desert. Other more commonplace scenarios are just plain engaging - like being ambushed by a group of enemies in the dark. The soundtrack is legendary - the multilayered buildup is seen all over the industry now but felt novel at the time.
My main criticism of MGR is that S ranking demands no damage. This is a slightly dull requirement because it means that the player cannot compensate damage taken by playing extra well otherwise. Iirc, you had to quit out to the menu a lot to abuse the checkpoint system.
On its own merits DmC is fine. I'd put it on about the same level as Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - a mechanically sound action game with a strong aesthetic. The aesthetic is indeed nice, particularly the limbo sequences, but these aspects arent core to my enjoyment of a game. The tone is embarrassing. It's like a joke that doesn't land. It's like one of those over-serious summer action flicks that's forgotten the minute it's out of the box office.
My main issue with DmC though is that it doesn't meaningfully engage the player with its combat. That's primarily due to being undemanding mechanically but I get the feeling that there's a whole lot of secret sauce that goes into these character action games that's harder to put your finger on. I'm talking about the things like animations, enemy design and scenario design that pull together to give the player a sense of visceral badassness that makes the experience one of sheer joy rather than some dodge and whack a mole blahness.
